Homestead Hangout

[Sally PB]

Yes, of course!

I find beans to be the hardest to can. So much work. I love green beans, and now I freeze them instead.

The first time I froze them, I didn't know to blanch them first. They got really tough and had almost no flavor. I'm still eating the beans I froze last summer, and they are still delicious.

 

[Sally PB]

A guy I work with told me a story about his friend who liked to visit old cemeteries to look at the really old grave stones. He found a group of people who were all family, who all died within a few days of each other, back in the early 1900s.

Curious, he did a little research. There was a write up in a local paper in the library archive. They'd had a family reunion, and a bunch of people died of food poisoning.

At this point, I said, "I bet it was canned beans." Yup.

People didn't know low acid foods had to be canned under pressure until the 1920s or so.

So whenever someone says they can beans, I always ask. Every now and then, I find someone who doesn't know that.

 

[Croft5Homestead]

Wow, that’s interesting! I’ll have to look into the freezing. But the beans...wow.

 

[Croft5Homestead]

Hi guys! Sorry it’s been awhile! We’ve been doing a lot of gardening! And our goose went broody, so we’re going to try hatching some duck eggs! We candles them yesterday, and so far so good! What have you guys been up to?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

I'd like to watch your thread.

I've only tried canning things like beets, salsa, and I've made lady Ashburn pickles, that's wild about the beans!

Good luck with your hatch @Croft5Homestead and welcome.

 

[Isadora]

Hey homesteaders! We are new to the homesteading scene. Bought our farm Christmas week in December and quickly added animals.
We have a flock of ducks, geese, chickens, meat chickens, guinea hens, turkeys chicks (most recent addition), a dog, cats, and a Dexter cow with her calf. We've had the cow for about 3 months now and we're thinking about drying her up and butchering her later this year. My husband does the milking and for the amount of milk she gives us it isn't worth his time. She's also not a nice cow. She throws her horns around when people walk near. She even charged the fence once when I was on the other side (It was electric wire, so I assume it was just for show) And I happened to be filling up a bucket of water so I sprayed her in the face. She didn't like that very much. So we'll probably look around and hopefully find a Jersey cow or something else with a sweet disposition. We'll see how it goes.
I've never canned in my life, but I'm going to try to put up tomatoes this year. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Sally PB]

Gardening and waiting for my new chicks to arrive... Waiting, waiting, waiting...

It'll happen, I know.

 

[Isadora]

Gardening and waiting for my new chicks to arrive... Waiting, waiting, waiting...

It'll happen, I know.

Arrive by mail or are you hatching them?

 

[Isadora]

We breed them for both pets and...something else...

Ohmnohmnohm

 

[Sally PB]

Arrive by mail or are you hatching them?

I'm going to go pick them up in "June." I don't yet know the day. 5 Blue Australorp pullets. I can't wait.

When I have the date, I won't shut up about it. When I get the chicks, I will post pictures. And more pictures. And more!